What's the Problem with PlayStation Marketing?

Push Square considers the advantages of disadvantages of PlayStation's current marketing strategy, and considers how the company's recruitment of advertising agency BBH New York could have a positive impact on the PS4.
(PS Vita, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP)

The big wigs of sony over In asia are Extremely stubborn...its a cultural thing. They believe no matter what that the playstation name will sell itself, I guess you can say they are spoiled bucause of their past dominance...

But its give and take man ...you cant always be stubborn somtime you have to eat crow and admit when your slipping...they need to market more and build playststion back up

"The big wigs of sony over In asia are Extremely stubborn...its a cultural thing." What are you talking about you racist? That's a pretty stereotypical thing to say about the Japanese culture. I'm also pretty sure that crow is not eaten in Japan either. Sony's marketing is the best in the industry. Name a better video game commercial than the Kevin Butler campaign. I can't remember the last time I saw an ad by Nintendo or Microsoft. At least Sony has commercials.Good ones too.

That's not racist at all. There are cultural differences in every country, pointing them out isn't a bad thing. And eating crow is a saying in the US, it means that you admit you're wrong. Jesus, people are sensitive these days.

And no, Sony does not have the best marketing in the industry. It is widely considered the worst in the industry. And I find it hard to believe you never see a Microsoft or Nintendo ad, seeing as how they are on every commercial break. It's like you live under a rock.

What ever they do... They need to speak directly to the casual market. The gamers who dont read N4G or site like it. People who don't know what E3 is. Those are the people Sony need to reach. Those are the majority. They need to see exactly what Sony can offer in terms of games, hardware etc. Show features, Playstation plus alone will sell itself. Problem is no one knows it or heard of it.

That doesn't make any sense. That is like saying the Mayhem Guy in the insurance commercials made it more about him or Five Gum commercials are more about people in strange metal machines more the about gum. .Unless you are an idiot you would know what the commercial was about. If you think of it that way then Nintendo's 3DS commercials are more about people who sit in living rooms on couches then games and Kinect commercials are more about flailing around then about games.I mean the level of nonsense spoken on N4G is staggering.Does anyone even think about what they are writing anymore or is the whole point just to agree with whatever negative thing is being said as quickly as possible so people,can hand them agrees?

@ Megaton.You mean like the fact that Sony has whole Youtube channels and blogs dedicated to showcasing their games even if it is just simply a PSN game with trailers, developer blogs and gameplay videos? That kind of saturation? Can you show me where Microsoft advertises their XBLA games?

"That is like saying the Mayhem Guy in the insurance commercials made it more about him or Five Gum commercials are more about people in strange metal machines more the about gum."

I think the difference is that most people already know what car insurance is, so the companies need something catchy (like Mayhem) to grab people's attention and make them think that they need to swap insurance companies. Same goes for gum. Most people already know what gum is...they just need a reason to buy YOUR gum.

But the mass audience aren't familiar with gaming. They don't really know why they should buy a PS3, or what games are on a PS3, or even what the PS3 is all about. The mass audience would likely look at a Kevin Butler ad and be confused or not fully understand what it's about.

And I think that's a big problem with Sony's marketing... Their advertising seems to primarily be aimed at people (like us on N4G) who are already pretty hardcore gamers, but their ads might seem random or confusing to the casual or non-gaming mass audience who need to be shown exactly WHY buying a PS3 and new games is a good idea for them.

I get what you are saying. I think Sony over the last couple of years has really improved their advertising, but sometimes they get to weird for anyone to understand what the hell is going on.

I love Sony and only want the best. Can't wait for the 20th...that ad tease really got the internet on fire and yes the GOW Ashes Superbowl Ad hit me emotionally in the heart. But I think they have learned from the past.

Don't answer them.Let them keep talking.Sense is not something gamers have at all. I am certain that when GOW Ascension comes out they will say 'Sony never advertised it and I will have to remind them of this

People like to pretend it is the commercials fault and not they are just ignoring the games in favor of others.If Microsoft are so great at commercials how come most of their Kinect games including the ones for children sold like crap? How come they have games the advertised that got above average scores and still didn't sell well at all? According to gamers the advertising whiz Microsoft should NEVER have a game sell below two or three million.But as long as you don't keep ignoring the others over Halo and Gears they do have several. Can I ask where are the 5-10 million people that brought Alan Wake that was advertised so well? Or better yet where are the 5-10 million people that brought Splinter Cell Conviction because of television ads? These game made at least average scores? so where are the bank breaking sales? How about Kinect Sesame Street that released during Christmas and got ads? How come it sold so poorly even as a children's game that so many great reviews? Strange how people go silent every time I ask them that or hide behind Halo and Gears sales.

I agree: I do see a lot of Sony youtube videos and that's a good place to go if you are aware of gaming to the degree most PS3-aware gamers are; my only problem with that strategy is that not many people who have to be won over to the PlayStation go on to youtube to specifically watch PlayStation videos.

Even further down that line, if you hate the PlayStation, would you go online to watch what they're doing?

What if you don't think about consoles much at all, would you go online to watch console game video commercials, and if so, what would you watch that might interest you if you didn't know the name of the game that might interest you?

Lastly, what if you love gaming, but are not internet-savvy? Don't forget that older people also game, but not all of them are adept to searching things on the internet.

My dad loves tennis and Wii tennis is the best for him, but until I got Wii tennis for my older brother's family (he owns a Wii) he would never have had the chance to even know that the Wii existed because he doesn't get online; but to be fair, he also doesn't watch shows where game makers advertise as well.

they dont advertise, thats the goddamn problem, its that they dont afvertise and their competitors do. simple as that. sony does really considering they barely advertise, now hopefully with the ps4 they advertise.

Well there is a distinct lack of advertising overall, then the originally PS3 commercials were pretty weird and didn't seem to have a point that the general public would understand. The Kevin Butler commercials were funny, but they usually strayed away from what the were trying to advertise in the first place.

I believe some games like Resistance 3 (which was a great game) suffered from poor advertising. I believe the commercial for R3 was with Kevin Butler, horses and that Move attachment, very little to actually do with the game itself.

Sony may not advertise as much as MS, but Sony's commercials are epic. I have yet to see a bad commercial, and the Butler ones were all top notch. MS has no games and advertises like crazy to make you think otherwise, but smart people are not deceived. Sony is all about games, and yet they don't need to brag about it.

Well...they kind of do. In the end, they're a company and good marketing is a very big and important aspect of selling a product. It has nothing to do with "bragging" or appealing to to the "smart people who are not deceived". That would be a downright ridiculous way of advertising. You need to appeal to the mass audience; not only gamers, but also the people who don't game, the people who might only be casual gamers, the people who need to know WHY picking up a PS3 and some games is a good idea. It has nothing to do with being humble or trying to weed out the stupid people. Why would Sony want to do that? Stupid people have money too...and are probably more likely to spend it.

The problem is that it doesn't exist. I was playing Sly Cooper and people were flabbergasted that it was out. They didn't know the release date or that the price was $40. And here we have Dead Space 3 up for pre-order and a midnight release on PSN but not Sly? How are you promoting a 3rd party game but not one of your own?

In all honesty I have seen more dedicated Sony commercials then any 360 commercials on television. The marketing isn't the problem. Sony came off of a huge win with the Kevin Butler commercials, but what ever happened to Marcus? Poor kid...can't catch a break that guy.

Like when they teased the allstar comercial everyone thought they were going I announce new characters but all they did was show us an okay life trailer. They are feet at buliding up hype but never good at delivering it

sony really needs to advertise better, seriously sly 4 just came out, not a single cokmercial, sony used to advertise the living crap out of their games, heck i found out about the original sly through a commercial, what happened to them.

I'm going to be weird and say that I'm really looking forward to the next-gen Sony ads.

I like the weirdness. The Third Place for the PS2, and in particular, the This is Living campaign for PS3 was awesome.

It was transgressive and subversive. It was there to pique the interest of early adopters, not the mass market. Here you had a TV commercial depicting a footballer masturbating to televised football. A mercenary experiencing PTSD flashbacks. Drug highs and paranoia.

You're only going to see that at the beginning of a generation. This is not for the soccer moms.

Very true. Look at the God of War Ascension "super bowl" how in the world is someone outside of the gaming loop supposed to know that was a videogame. Don't get me wrong, I liked the trailer only because I know Kratos' personality and story but I acknowledge the fact that not everyone is me. The trailer had no gameplay at all. Honestly I dont see why they dont just take a trailer like The Last Us VGA2012 trailer and put that on TV. It was short, emotional and show gameplay.

i would casually talk to people that I knew werent super hardcore gamers at school...they didnt even know what playstation all stars was. Then they barely knew anything about the vita other than it was a handheld. They just need more marketing